Former President Barack Obama waves to supporters after delivering remarks at an event commemorating the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2015. Obama, who was a U.S. senator at the time of the hurricane, has been blamed for the federal response to the disaster in a flurry of bizzarre and counter-factual Twitter posts. Andrew HarnikThe Associated Press file

Former President Barack Obama waves to supporters after delivering remarks at an event commemorating the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2015. Obama, who was a U.S. senator at the time of the hurricane, has been blamed for the federal response to the disaster in a flurry of bizzarre and counter-factual Twitter posts. Andrew HarnikThe Associated Press file

Posts flood Twitter blaming Obama for Katrina response

Defenders of President Donald Trump are inundating Twitter with caustic attacks on former President Barack Obama over the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 – three years and six months before Obama took office.

The posts appear to be responses to criticism of Trump’s visit to Texas on Tuesday in the wake of devastating flooding in Houston following Tropical Storm Harvey. Many claim that Obama was golfing when Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans in August 2005, killing 1,245 people across the Gulf Coast.

What was your response when Katrina hit and Obama was playing golf? At least Trump is prepared unlike your hero, Obama. https://t.co/pQ1Fvyzp3Q

Obama was first elected president in November 2008 and took office in January 2009. He won a second term in 2012 and stepped down in January when Trump took office. President George W. Bush, who was in office during Hurricane Katrina, faced widespread criticism for the federal response to the disaster.